The Ex-Drake

The ducks get locked into their run of an evening. They are a bit haphazard about where they lay eggs - they usually lay in the morning - so we keep them locked up until mid-morning to stand a chance of knowing where they have laid eggs. 

But the drake didn't appear with them one evening . he had been limping a bit for  a couple of days.

And a couple of days later we eventually found him .

 

 

And we think its was probably a hungry otter - the otter has got into the chest and eaten the contents ( heart and lungs)

 

And it was our only drake. So we are on the lookout for a replacement. If we wnat to try and hatch some ducklings we will need a drake to do the business. 

The wall and the ducks

 A wall was heightened to discourage the ducks from exploring . 

Over the last few weeks some of them have been getting out and it has taken a while to spot where 

But we think we found the low spot 

 

So ive added few stones 

H5N8(again)

 There has been an outbreak of Avian Flu on the Island of Sanday, one of the Orkney Outer Islands. So Avian flu is a bit closer.  We remain outside the exclusion zone - heres the map  .And the guidance is that  all poultry should be kept indoors, away from wild birds which might spread it around. And there are particualr problems with turkeys  and  ducks  because they can be carriers and show little in the way of symptoms. 

So its 'bring your hens inside ' time. 

We've had a bit of a move around.  Some surprise chicks were hatched in November  and as we had no other use for it , they had been growing on in one of the bigger runs . So they have had to be moved from their big run to something a bit more cosy

 And the chicks are growing -and all appear healthy. But the black one is about half the size of the others. We've no idea why .

So having freed up the 2 large hen runs, they have gone inside .

The advantage of getting them inside is that we can try adding some light to encourage them to lay. They should have started laying at the end of the  summer but for some reason they haven't.

 

 

We've got the turkey poults under cover as well. 

 We still have an excess of cockerels . So they are being managed as well. Its getting cold, so they will be hung for a few days before being gutted and  then either roasted or jointed and into the freezer.

 

And there are another 9 out in the field

 

H5N8

 Weve got poultry .And the regulations regarding biosecurity and Avian flu are UK wide.

So it doesn't matter that the nearest outbreak is 400 miles away  and that there isnt a recognised migration route between there and here .

And the official guidance is here .

We have to keep  keep chickens, hens, ducks and turkeys housed indoors where practicable (my emphasis) -this is often forgotten when people quote the guidance.

And we arent (yet)in an Avian Influenza Prevention Zone.

The bits that are relevant to us and 'practicable' 

 "Keep domestic ducks and geese completely separate from other poultry species as they often don’t show any signs of disease but can still pass it on to chickens, turkeys or other poultry species."

So  we need to separate  the  chickens and the geese that currently are in the big field. The geese eat grass and therefore will need access, but away from any chickens. 

So we  are going to move them to the Moorland field. The only problem is that some chickens are there. 

So step 1. Move the chickens. Ive constructed an  enclosed run - that can be extended if necessary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 2 move the geese away from close contact with the chickens.

The ducks are more of a  problem. They have  an enclosed run

But weve had a lot of  rain recently and its become a bit (!) muddy.

The ducks are going to have to be kept in the pen full-time. So we cant leave them in the quagmire. 

So  several wheelbarrows of soil helps.

and several barrows of  old hay has made it a bit more habitable.

And the  other we can manage our poultry is by reducing the numbers.

The Wall

 We have 2 lots of ducks. The Indian Runner ( 'Jemima Puddleduck' ) ones, who lay -relatively-  more eggs and that we intend to breed from , and the other ones , that we have had for years - the Bugherov ducks. The latter lot are keen to explore and will go to extreme ends for food. This includes hopping over the wall that keep the Indian Runners separate. This could cause us problems when it comes to breeding.

So SOMETHING MUST BE DONE 

So we wondered whether we should get a fence put . But they can squeeze through the regular fencing wire . So the wall needed to be extended

 The excuses
- It's a while since I sent on the drystone walling course
- Im using field stone ( the stuff thats lying around) rather than quarry stone.
- I need to extend the wall and to take it down completely and rebuild would be a lot of work
- ( and im not very practiced at this)

And its an opportunity to sort this out - the wall just pokes out a bit . Not sure why
Perhaps to make it easier to step over ? . Or there is a hidden cache of something  in the wall?

So a couple of days later

 ( and the anomaly was just stones sticking out of the wall -  nothing hidden, no idea why it was like that)

The fist bit of the wall has some dense vegetation growing so I thought that would stop the ducks , so i didn't bother doing that bit.

Silly me

And here's where they were hopping through. 

This should stop them   ( i hope!)

The time has come

For the ducklings to venture outside.
Indian runner ( 'Jemima puddleduck') ducks are good payers, so we thought wed get some  eggs and incubate them  .

And we did

And it was reasonably successful.

And the ducklings have grown and started to  get feathers, and with the mild(er) weather  its time for them to go outside

There are 19 in total.

We've not been able to sex them yet, but we will only be keeping a  few males. So duck will be on the menu later in the year .

And the food miles per duck ?  0.01136 miles ( 20 yards - the distance from the house to the lawn where they will be )  per duck. 
Beat that !

Repairing the pond .

The new run for the Jemima Puddleduck  duckling was put up in July 

It needed a small dam across the burn. But we have had sow much heavy bursts of rain  ir has washed away some of the bank

And some nifty work ( and wet gloves) with the stones

 So we shall see if it survives the next load of rain

The new duck run

And we have realised that duck eggs sell quite well. And our current ducks - there were 8 but one has wandered off somewhere - arent laying anything at the moment. And they are very sweet , but also stupid , as explained here 
So we are going to get some Indian Runners  ( Jemima Puddleduck -like ducks )

But obviously ours wont have the hat or coat.

And we, and the rest of Orkney,  still have a problem with stoats. So the new duck run, just like the existing one  , will have to be stoat-proof.
And we dont want to be lugging watre around for them , so it has to be near a pond/stream.

So i dammed a bit of the stream

aand whacked in a few fence posts we have . Ishould have concreted them in - the ground there is a bit soft and getting the posts  to stay vertical has been tricky and not entirely successful.

And then covered the whole thing in wire mesh

The ducks were getting a  bit big for their old chick run.

so they have been moved to the new run.

 The hen will go back to the rest of the flock in a few days and the ducks will get used to their new home,

Ducklings

So we hatched the ducklings in the incubator .
And the broody hen adopted the 4 that came out of the incuated eggs.   One didnt survive, so we are left with the hens' one and the 3 from the incubator.

And they are venturing out , watched over by the hen

More Ducks ( hopefully)

There appears to be  good market for duck eggs. Our ducks are very sweet, and stupid . And not very good at consistently laying . Indian Runner ducks are better at consistently laying. And we have another broody hen.
So we kept the broody hen occupied , and sitting, on a couple of false eggs,- -real eggs, blown and then filled with plaster   -

And you can order eggs  on the internet - and a few days later they  arrived. 

So we replaced te plaster eggs with the real ones.

And she continues to brood on them. And the incubation period is 28 days.

And 28 days from putting them under the hen will be  26th June
So watch this space

The new duck run.

So it is eventually finished.

They have access to water , and it is hopefully stoaf-and otter- proof.

We wont take the indoor run down yet, in case there are problems  with this . But it ould be nice to reclaim the space and not have the hassle of buckets of water

The new duck run

We've lost lots of ducks through the summer to stoats .
They have been brought into the shed and have lost no more - but its not sustainable through the winter .
So we need a stoat- and otter- proof run for them.

The location is the same as the old one

- but I'll have to think a bit about access to the water in the pond but doesn't allow stoats and otters into the run.


So the first stage is to put the wooden frame

And ten its just a matter of going round and attaching  fine (1/2" hole) chicken wire to the whole thing, sort out access - a door and a bigger removeable side in case we ever need to get the house out , and then go round and ensure there are barriers to them digging under the frame (I think  large old slate roofing tiles, pushed down into the ground should do it ) .

And then do something about access to the water.